Vol. 11(21), pp.

1914-1923, 26 May, 2016

DOI: 10.5897/AJAR2016.11015
Article Number: A2EFD2958715
ISSN 1991-637X
Copyright 2016
Author(s) retain the copyright of this article
http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR

African Journal of Agricultural

Research

Full Length Research Paper

Artificial intelligence tools in predicting the volume of

trees within a forest stand
Eder Pereira Miguel1*, Fabrcia Conceio Menez Mota1, Saulo Jorge To2, Rodrigo Geroni
Mendes Nascimento2, Fabrcio Assis Leal1, Reginaldo Srgio Pereira1 and Alba Valria
Rezende1
1

Department of Forest Engineering, University of Braslia, Braslia, DF, 70910-900, Brazil.

Department of Forest Engineering, Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, PR, 80210-170, Brazil.

Received 18 March, 2016; Accepted 23 April, 2016

The goal of this study was to train, validate, select and evaluate artificial neural networks (ANN) to
predict the individual volume of wood in eucalyptus stand, based on the diameter at breast height
(DBH) and DBH with the total height (Ht). Data was obtained from a plantation of Eucalyptus urophylla
ST Blake of seven years of age, located in the state of Gois, Brazil. Sixteen plots were randomly set in
this area, from which the variables diameter, total height and volume were accounted. The volume of all
the trees in each plot was measured by the Smalian method; afterwards, the data were checked for
normality using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Sequentially, perceptron network settings (ANN1 = DBH and Ht;
and ANN2 = DBH) were trained using sigmoid activation functions and resilient propagation (Rprop)
algorithm. In addition, a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of less than 1% was adopted as stopping
criterion or when this rose again. The selected ANNs presented low variation among the task-specific
training indices, selection and evaluation, showing correlation ( ) between predicted and observed
volume (0.9945 and 0.9898), and RMSE from 1.75 and 2.22%, respectively. The Shapiro-Wilk test
highlighted non-normality of data distribution; hence, various selected ANNs were subjected to the
Kruskal-Wallis test
for validation, as well as for comparison with each other and sequentially
submitted to the overall group difference test. The test
demonstrated that both ANNs were able to
predict tree volume; leading to the conclusion that multilayer perceptron neural networks (MLPNNs),
using just one neuron input- the diameter, are as precise and accurate as networks using two neuronsthe diameter and height, in order to predict individual volume of E. urophylla.
Key words: Eucalyptus, Brazil, volumetry, forest inventory, neural networks.

INTRODUCTION
Planted forests cover about 264 million hectares,
comprising nearly 7% of total forest area, with the largest
part located in China, India and the United States (61%).

Brazil has 7.6 million hectares of planted forest (3%) and

contributes to 17% of all wood harvested each year. This
contribution arises from the high productivity of

*Corresponding author. E-mail: Isaltinoab@gmail.com.

Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License 4.0 International License

Miguel et al.

plantations, mainly of Eucalyptus trees, which represent

72% of the planted forest area planted in the country
(IB, 2014).
It is estimated that among all planted trees in the world,
Eucalyptus makes up nearly 38% of that (Prez-Cruzado
et al., 2011). From that, India has the highest planted
area, with 22% of this tree genus. However, Brazil is the
second place (21%); and new plantations have been
growing in the country due to wood demands from the
industries that use it as raw material. This growth comes
also from the need for restoration of native areas, which
minimizes environmental impacts.
Besides being the main tree genus grown in Brazil,
Eucalyptus is the most planted tree in the tropics (Epron
et al., 2013) because of its rapid growth, yield, easy
adaptability, species diversity and wide range of wood
use. However, before being marketed, plantation
production measurements have to be held, particularly
the wood volume (Miguel et al., 2014).
Estimating the volume of forest stands derives from
quantitative inventories. This operation consists of
measuring representative samples that are called plots
(Binoti et al., 2013). Subsequently, this volume is
rigorously correlated with easy-to-measure variables,
such as diameter at 1.30 m above soil (diameter at breast
height - DBH) and total height (Ht). Then, regression
techniques and adjustments of volumetric equations are
adopted as a routine procedure.
Several volumetric models can be applied to these
measures, which are adjusted linearly or non-linearly,
being divided into single input models (DBH) and dual
input (DBH and Ht) besides their multiple combinations.
Nevertheless, regarding statistic methods used to
measure the quality and accuracy of the adjustment, the
dual-input models are preferred because they are more
accurate, as stated by Thomas et al. (2006), Azevedo et
al. (2011) and Miguel et al. (2014). In addition, this type
of modeling requires statistical assumptions such as data
normality or linearity (Egrioglu et al., 2014).
One option for exempting these statistical assumptions
to represent nonlinear relationships between predictor
and predicted variables is the use of artificial intelligence
(AI) techniques and resources. The use of these tools in
growth and production modeling is still new and
unexplored. However, efforts have been made and with
promising results (Diamantopoulou, 2005; Gorgens et al.,
2009; Castro et al., 2013). Among these techniques,
artificial neural networks (ANN) has gained prominent
position (Silva et al., 2009; Binoti et al., 2013; Miguel et
al., 2015). Forest stand modeling through ANNs allows
greater accuracy in production estimates, as well as
being a good aid at making decisions (Castellanos et al.,
2007).
ANNs are modern data processing systems whose
design, structure and operating principles are based on
biological neural system, interconnected to perform a
particular task. It has as fundamental element an artificial

1915

neuron, which receives as input operating parameter

values and returns an expected result as output.
According to Wang et al. (2010), artificial neuron is a
simplified model and related real neuron, whose basic
properties are the suitability and reproduction of
information based on connections, which is the
information processing unit of a neural network. The
networks has as basic characteristics adaptive learning,
self-organizing capacity, robust structure distributed in
parallel (layers), efficiency in learning and generalization,
besides being tolerant to outliers, are able to model
different variables and their nonlinear relationships, as
well as enabling quantitative and qualitative variable
modeling (Haykin, 2001; Kuvendziev et al., 2014).
This work aimed to train, validate, select and evaluate
artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict individual wood
volume in a Eucalyptus stand, using diameter at breast
height with total height (RNA1) and only diameter at
breast height (RNA2).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data were collected from a plantation of Eucalyptus urophylla S. T.
Blake of seven years old, planted at spacing of 3 x 3 m (1,111 trees
per hectare). The area has 110 hectares and belongs to the
Cooperativa Agroindustrial dos Produtores Rurais do Sudoeste
Goiano (COMIGO) (cooperative society), in the city of Rio Verde,
southwest of the state of Gois, Brazil. The area lies at an average
altitude of 700 m, limited between 18 00 45 to 18 01 45 south
latitude and from 50 52 45 to 50 53 15 west longitude (Figure
1). According to Kppen, local climate is humid tropical (Aw type)
with two distinct seasons: a dry one (fall and winter) and another
wet with pouring rains (spring and summer). Each year, rainfall
ranges from 1,200 to 1,500 mm, averaging around 1,300 mm, and
average temperatures between 20 and 25C (Siqueira-Neto et al.,
2011).

Sampling, variables and data analysis

The authors carried out a pre-exploratory forest inventory within the
study area. Fifteen 400 m2 plots were delimited with the aid of a
measuring tape. For evaluations, a fixed area method with a simple
random sampling process was adopted (Husch et al., 1993).
After the plots were set, diameter, total height (Ht) and volume
were measured. For diameter, a diameter tape performing
measurements at 1.3 m above the ground, which is called diameter
at breast height (DBH) was used. Then, all standing living timbers
within the 15 plots (605 trees) were cut, the total heights were
obtained directly and their wood volume was strictly measured.
Next, the distribution of trees was assessed by diameter class
within a range of 2.5 cm each class. Scolforo and Thiersch (2004)
mentioned that forest stands should be evaluated at a class range
between 2 and 5 cm. Such evaluation is intended to represent a
horizontal stand structure, while ensuring that all trees are sampled
by their diameter class during the process of wood volume
measurement, increasing the prediction consistency and accuracy.
Subsequently, wood volumes were measured by the analytical
method of Smalian. According to Machado and Filho (2006), this
method is widely used in Brazil, mainly due to its practical
advantage and precision. Diameter was measured throughout the
entire timber at spots previously set, disregarding the height of
stumps with 0.1 m. At stem basal portion, section lengths were 0.2

1916

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

Figure 1. Study area location and spatial distribution of sampled plots. Source: Google Earth image; Natural Earth
(naturalearthdata.com); IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

m, while the remainder sections were 1.0 m. Therefore, diameters

were measured at 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1.1, 1.3, 2.0 (0.7-m
section), 3.0, 5.0 and 4.0 m, successively up to a minimum
diameter of 2.0 cm. From this diameter until the top of the tree, the
tips were accounted for.
The volume of each section was calculated by the formula of
Smalian, yet the tip volume was obtained using the formula for
calculation of cone volumes, as described in Machado and Filho
(2006). Shortly after measuring the volumes and grouping into
diameter ranges, trees were randomly selected to compose the
database for training on the ANNs, within each class. The optimal
number of timbers in total and by class was given by the following
expression:

t 2 .Cv% 2
n
E2

examined regarding the following aspects:

Symmetric: mode = median = arithmetic mean.
Asymmetry to the right or positive: if mode <median <arithmetic
mean.
Asymmetry to the left or negative: if mode > median > arithmetic
mean.
If Pearson's skewness coefficient, in modulus, was between 0.15
and 1.00, asymmetry would be considered moderate. If it was
higher than 1.00, asymmetry would be considered strong. Kurtosis
refers to the degree of flatness or peakedness of the distribution,
which is usually considered in a normal theoretical distribution. It
occurs due to concentration of values near the average. Pereira
and Tanaka (1990) established three curve types regarding the
kurtosis percentile coefficient:

(1)

Where, n= optimal number of timbers in total and by class; t=

studentized value; CV%= coefficient of variation; E = permissible
error (5%) for of 0.05.
As usual, diameter class distribution in forest stands of the same
age tends to normality. Therefore, by statistical means, the
following measures were assessed: central tendency measures,
variance, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, skewness and
kurtosis. The coefficient of variation (CV), as being dimensionless
and enabling comparison of variability with other variables, consists
of an interesting measure, being its values classified according to
the criteria proposed by Gomes (2000), as follows: low (CV < 10%);
medium (10% < CV < 20%); high (20% < CV < 30%); and very high
(CV > 30%). Asymmetry indicates the trend towards greater
concentration of data within a central point, which in turn was

Leptokurtic: distribution having a relatively high peak with a

negative excess, or kurtosis coefficient <0.263.
Platykurtic: curve has a flatter peak with positive excess, that is,
kurtosis coefficient > 0.263.
Mesokurtic: intermediate curve, with kurtosis coefficient of 0.263.
Numerical variables were linearly normalized within a range of 0 to
1, for training of the ANNs (Heaton, 2011). The input layer was
formed either by two (2) quantitative neurons (DBH and Ht), called
ANN1, or one (1) neuron (DAP), called ANN2, in function of the
response/output variable (volume).
An artificial neuron is the information processing unit of an ANN,
being composed of "n" inputs x1, x2, ... xn (dendrites) and only one
output y (axon). The inputs are multiplied by some k w parameters
called weights (w1, w2, ... wn), representing the synapses. These
values can be negative or positive. Currently, a basic model of

Miguel et al.

artificial neuron can be represented mathematically as:

Yk (Vk )

(2)

Where, Yk = output of the artificial neuron;

= Activation function;

1917

should be stable, that is, there must be variation among such

indexes, the root mean square error (RMSE) in percentage and the
graphical analysis of residues.
The root-mean-square error evaluates the mean square
difference between observed and estimated values. The lower the
RMSE, the better the average accuracy of estimates, being optimal
when it is equal to zero (Mehttalo et al., 2006).

Vk = result of the linear combiner, that is:

Vk xn .wn

(3)

o
The networks were also comprised of a single hidden layer
architecture. According to Esquerre (2002), most of the time, the
networks require a single hidden layer to solve nonlinearly
separable problems. The number of neurons in this layer has been
optimized by the Intelligent Problem Solver (IPS) tool of the
Statistica 7 software (Statsoft, 2007); and as activation function, the
sigmoidal was used.
Sigmoid activation function is quite common in developing
artificial neural networks, and in addition to a well-built network
architecture, it can bring closer any continuous function with great
precision (Ismailov, 2014); this function is mathematically expressed
by:

(v )
Where,

v
n

1 exp u

100
RMSE(%)
v

(5)

Where, is the average of total volumes originating from wood

volume measuring; is the individual total volume estimated by
the ANN; is the individual total volume from the wood measuring,
and "n" is the total number of observations.
Once the two best ANNs are defined, if non-used sampled
timbers presented regular destruction in accordance with the
Shapiro-Wilk test (1965), they would undergo variance analysis
(ANOVA); if not, they would undergo the Kruskal-Wallis' test (1952).
Sequentially, they would undergo the aggregate difference test
(Da%) for training validation, as well as comparison between the
ANNs with one (1) or with two (2) neurons in the input layer (DBH
and DBH/ Ht, respectively).
The software used were SISVAR and Action 2.7, which
performed descriptive statistics and normality test. Yet the graphics
were made through Microsoft Office Excel 2013, and neural
networks were trained in Statistica 7 (Statsoft, 2007).

(4)

= sigmoid activation function; = parameter determining

the sigmoidal function slope; u = function activation potential.

The resilient propagation was used as training algorithm
(Riedmiller and Braun,1993), and the training parameters were
learning rate () of 0.2 and momentum () of 0.9 (Gorgens et al.,
2009).
First, all network weights were randomly generated (Heaton,
2011). Then, individual update value evolved during the learning
process, based on the error function. Network training continued
until error rate was reduced to an acceptable margin between the
predicted and actual values, known as delta rule, or until a
maximum number of times or cycles (Shiblee et al., 2010).
To estimate the individual total volume, 100-perceptron multilayer
networks were trained, which are commonly known as multilayer
perceptron (MLP). One hundred networks were trained using
diameter and total height in the input layer, and other 100 networks
using only diameter, totaling 200-trained networks. Trainings were
carried by a supervised method, in which input and output variables
were indicated for the networks. This feedforward type method uses
unidirectional data flow algorithm without cycles (Haykin, 2001).
Several methods determine the time at which the training of a
neural network should be terminated. According to Chen et al.
(2014), excessive number of cycles can lead to a network
overfitting; on the other hand, it is underfitted when it has few
cycles, what impairs a maximum performance. However, to
eliminate these problems, the mean square error less than 1% was
used, or when the root mean square error (RMSE) increased again
as a stopping criterion, as suggested by Chen et al. (2014). Thus,
training was terminated when one of the criteria was reached.
Based on the correlation between the volumes observed and the
estimated networks ( ), the best two ANNs were selected. The
authors also took as a basis stability of the training indexes of the
networks that were provided by the software during training,
selection and evaluation phases. In these phases, these indexes

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The structure of a forest is mostly defined by size and
distribution of trees per area unit. In this aspect, the
diameter is the most important variable, being used for
modeling, volume measurement and in the understanding
of the forest stand growth.
Diameters ranged from a minimum of 5 cm to and
maximum of 21.75 cm, and mean, median and mode of
15.47, 15.05 and 15.73, respectively. These values
indicate that the diameters presented a negative
moderate asymmetric distribution, as mean <median
<fashion, the negative skewness is also justified by the
asymmetry coefficient of -0.233.
The Shapiro-Wilk (1965) normality test presented p-12
value of 1.97e , indicating a non-normal distribution, as
shown in Figure 2A, since data are not distributed on the
line. Diameter distribution had class range of 2.5 cm,
platykurtic type (Figure 2B) with kurtosis of 0.280 and
variation coefficient of 19.37%, ensuring a mean
variability (Gomes, 2000) and standard deviation of 2.92
cm.
In studies in Brazilian, forest stands as Eucalyptus
urograndis (Miguel et al., 2014), Acacia mearnsii
(Sanquetta et al., 2014) and Pinus taeda (To et al.,
2012) were found to have descriptive characteristics
similar to this study. This behavior is expected in stands
of the same age in Brazil; however, it may differ
according to species genetic improvement degree,
silvicultural treatment and such a way as to raise or lower
the frequency of trees management type adopted, in

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Afr. J. Agric. Res.

Figure 2. Normal distribution probability (A) and diameter distribution in a stand of E. urophylla S. T. Blake sampled in the state of Gois,
Brazil (B).

Table 1. Frequency distribution of the optimal number ( = 0.05; 5%) of measured tree for training of the ANNs, by
diameter and height classes for Eucalyptus urophylla in the state of Gois, Brazil.

Class center
Ht (m)
12.5
15.5
18.5
21.5
24.5
27.5
30.5
Total

6.25
2
3
3
2
10

8.75
1
2
3
4
4
14

Class center DBH (cm)

11.25
13.75
16.25
3
2
2
5
4
4
5
5
5
4
8
7
3
6
5
2
20
25
25

18.75
5
6
5
5
4
25

21.25
2
3
3
3
12

Total
3
12
24
30
31
22
9
131

DBH = diameter at 1.3 m above ground, Ht = total height.

with larger diameters, shifting the mode to the right or left

of the average.
Of the sampled and measured trees in the field (605),
sampling intensity by diameter class ( = 0.05; 5%) had a
total optimal number of 131 trees (28%) for training the
ANNs. These trees were distributed into the different
classes of diameter and height, as shown in Table 1. The
remaining 471 trees composed of another independent
database used for validation.
Afterwards, based the 131 sampled trees for training,
two networks were selected. Both with an input layer, a
hidden layer and an output layer. The input layer differed
in the number of neurons, sometimes two (2), the
diameter and height (ANN1), other times one (1) and only
the diameter (ANN2). The use of a single hidden layer is

supported by the "universal approximation theorem",

which states that only one hidden layer is enough for a
MLP network to do the approximation of any continuous
function (Cybenko, 1989). Yet, the number of neurons
was determined by the Intelligent Problem Solver tool
(IPS) (STATSOFT, 2007), and presented different
numbers according to the amount of neurons in the input
layer. Therefore, in total volume estimate by DBH and Ht
(ANN1), the hidden layer had five neurons (Figure 3A),
but when it was estimated based on DBH only (ANN2),
the number of neurons increased to seven in this layer
(Figure 3B). This difference is attributed to a greater or
lesser difficulty of the network in predicting the volume
using one neuron (DBH) or two (DBH and Ht) in the input
layer.

Miguel et al.

ANN 1

1919

ANN 2

Figure 3. Architecture of artificial neural networks (ANN) for prediction of individual total wood volume of forest stands of E. urophylla, in
function of the DBH and Ht (ANN1) and DBH (ANN2), in the state of Gois, Brazil.

Table 2. Characteristics and performance statistics of the artificial neural networks (ANN) selected to
estimate the volume of E. urophylla trees in the city of Rio Verde, state of Gois, Brazil.

Network

Predicting
variables

ANN1
ANN2

Diameter and height

Diameter

Neurons by layer
Input hidden output
2
5
1
1
7
1

LT
0.08
0.10

LS
0.08
0.12

Adjustment
LA
RMSE (%)
0.08
0.994
1.75
0.11
0.989
2.22

IT = Levels of training (network acquisition), IS = levels of stop selection (training stop), IA = levels of assessment
(trained network quality), = correlation between observed and predicted volume, RMSE% = root-mean-square
error in percentage.

Within this structure, the input layer is where the

standards are displayed to the network (DBH and Ht); the
intermediate layers (also called hidden or secret layer)
are responsible for much of the processing, which may
be considered as extractors of characteristics; and the
output layer is one where the result is displayed (volume).

ANN training
Adjustment and accuracy statistics of both selected
networks to predict individual wood volume of E.
urophylla trees were satisfactory. The selected ANNs
showed low variation between the levels of training,
selection and evaluation, which consist of ideal results
that show training stability (Binoti et al., 2013). The
correlation between observed and predict volumes ( )
was 0.9945 and 0.9898, with root-mean-square error in
percentage (RMSE%) between 1.75 and 2.22%,
respectively (Table 2). Thus, the use of the ANNs has

effectively estimated tree volume and at the same time

exempts from basic assumptions of the standard
mathematical modelling, such as normality and linearity
of the forest attributes (Egrioglu et al., 2014). These
attributes
often
undergo
different
mathematical
transformations to be modeled in a traditional way, which
may cause losses in quality and selection of models.
Artificial intelligence has great potential in diverse
applications, especially in the areas of engineering and
agriculture. However, for its application feasibility,
Cartwright (2008) stated that there should be a direct
relationship between the input parameters and the target
responses. Overall, the networks are developed for nonlinear mapping from a set of inputs and outputs that are
interrelated. In such cases, the ANNs are developed
aiming to achieve a typical performance of a biological
system, based on the interconnections of the elements,
similarly to what occurs with biological neurons (Grler
et al., 2015). In addition to these characteristics, ANNs
had some advantages over the conventional techniques,

1920

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

Figure 4. Behavior in the training of ANN1 (DBH and Ht) and ANN2 (DBH) in predicting individual wood volume (A), residual distribution (B)
and the error frequency histogram (C) for stands of E. urophylla in the city of Rio Verde, state of Gois, Brazil.

such as the ability to generalize, parallelism and the

possibility of learning, generating accurate values as the
ones presented in this study.
Nevertheless, even if the presented statistical criteria of
adjustment quality are good indicators for the selection of
any type of model, the graphical analysis of residues is a
key role to support them or not (Draper and Smith, 1981),
since trend errors may occur in a given range of the
response variable class, and not detected by the
statistics that assess accuracy.
Hence, Figure 4 shows the graphs of network model
behavior (ANN1 and ANN2) for individual wood volume
estimate of eucalyptus and the real values (A), residue
distribution in percentage (B) and the error frequency
histogram for the two distinct settings of trained networks
(C). Both networks were similar (Figure 4) having
adequate predictive behavior; however, ANN1 (DAP and
Ht) was superior, being more flexible in gathering data
(A). Residual graph showed adequate distribution of
errors with no trends in all the different classes of
diameter with maximum errors within 30%, but ANN1
presents a slightly more compact and homogeneous
residue distribution (B). According to Campos and Leite
(2013), the assessment of residues through histograms
(C) is an interesting type of analysis, since when there
are large numbers of observations, only the scatter plots
may lead to a risk of misinterpreting because there are
many overlapping points within the graph. In this regard,
both trained networks (ANN1 and ANN2) had adequate
frequency errors, with the vast majority in classes ranging
between -10 and 10% error; however, it was evident that
ANN1 had no error greater than 20%.
Based on statistics indicating accuracy shown in Table
2, the compliance between the residual distribution and
histograms errors can be highlighted (Figure 4).

Therefore, ANNs were able to predict accurately the

individual wood volume of E. urophylla trees, using
diameter and height attributes.

Neural network validation

The trained networks (ANN1 and ANN2) validation
statistically proves the viability of using artificial
intelligence (IA) tools to predict individual wood volume of
E. urophylla (Table 3). For analysis of these statistics,
474 trees (72%) from experimental data which were not
used for network trainings were used. It is therefore in
accordance with Zucchini (2000), who reported that the
validation sample must be independent. Additionally,
meeting the modeling principles recommended by
Gujarati and Poter (2011), set that at least 20% of
samples that integrates the database, should be left to
validate the models.
As the Shapiro-Wilk (1965) normality test presented a
-12
p-value of 1.97e , which denotes non-normality of data
distribution, both ANNs were submitted to the KruskalWallis test (1952) for validation, besides comparisons
with each other and, in sequence subjected to the
aggregated difference test in percentage (Table 3). Both
ANN1 as ANN2 obtained individual wood volume values
near each other, as well as close to the real values. Such
proximity is detected by the Kruskal-Wallis analysis. This
fact indicates that both ANNs are valid and reliable in
estimating this variable (volume) using as predictors,
attributes such as diameter and height. It is mentioned
also that ANN1 (DBH and Ht) and ANN2 (DBH) did not
differ (p> 0.05), so both can be used.
The aggregate difference (AD), which is the difference
between the sums of the observed values with estimated

Miguel et al.

1921

Table 3. Mean, minimum and maximum values, as well as real and estimated values of individual wood
volume, estimated by both network categories, and validation statistics of E. urophylla in Rio Verde,
state of Gois, Brazil.

Variable

Minimum

Mean

Maximum

Da (%)

0.0196
0.0192
0.0197

0.2682
0.2703
0.2703

0.6138
0.6107
0.5725

-0.75
-1.75

11.05
27.51

66.62
66.62

ns
ns

Comparison between ANN1 and ANN2

ANN1
0.0192
0.2703
ANN2
0.0197
0.2703

0.6107
0.5725

-1.00

16.50

66.62

ns

Actual volume
ANN1
ANN2

D.cal

D.ref

Result

( Dcal = Value calculated using Kruskal-Wallis test, ( Dref = reference value according to the Kruskal-Wallis
test, Da (%) = aggregated difference, ns = not significant at 5%.

Figure 5. Behavior in validations of ANN1 (DAP and Ht) and ANN2 (DAP) in predicting individual wood volume (A), residual
distribution (B) and error frequency histogram (C) for forest stands of E. urophylla in the city of Rio Verde, state of Gois,
Brazil.

values, serves as an indicator criterion of over- or

underestimates. In both trained networks, the AD had
close and negative values (ANN1, -0.75% and ANN2, 1.75%), indicating a slight overestimation of individual
volume of trees (Table 3). These low values together with
the results of Kruskal-Wallis' analysis demonstrate the
adherence of these neural networks to modelling the
forest volume. Neural networks are nowadays a promising
tool used in multidisciplinary researches (Silva et al.,
2010). In Brazil, ANN use has been gaining attention for
forest stand estimates, being considered an efficient and
promising technique by several researchers (Leite et al.,
2011; Castro et al., 2013; Binoti et al., 2015; Miguel et al.,
2015).
Adherence capacity, compact and homogeneous
residues as well as distribution of errors within class
ranges near zero are desirable in independent validation

of modeling technique. These characteristics demonstrate

the ability of models to estimate the variables of interest
with accuracy. As in training, both ANNs had
effectiveness in estimating the volume of individual trees,
showing adhesion, compaction and homogeneity of
residues, as the error histogram showed the highest rate
close to zero (Figure 5). It is also noted that both
networks (ANN1 and ANN2) had overestimation and
underestimation errors of about 30%, although the biases
arising from ANN2 always had values closer to the
extreme.
Therefore, these results corroborate the claims of
Egrioglu et al. (2014) that mentioned that ANNs have
advantages over conventional techniques due to its
generalizability, parallelism and the possibility of learning.
Thus, the same nets can extract standards from a
particular database and reapply it to other accurately, and

1922

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

then its use recommended.

Traditionally, in the routine of Brazilian forest inventories
to measure tree volumes, it is very common to use
volumetric equations of double entry, whose volume is
estimated by relating the diameter at breast height (DBH)
and height (Ht) of the trees. However, measuring the
height of trees in forest stands is a costly activity as
compared to the diameter measurement. Furthermore,
the difficulty to obtain it makes impracticable the process,
as some problems may occur as a lack of top of the tree
visibility in dense stands, as well as the occurrence of
winds, especially in eucalyptus plantations (Binoti et al.,
2013).
As the Kruskal-Wallis test
showed adherence for
both ANNs in predictions of individual tree volume, the
performance of ANN2, which is formed by a single
neuron in the input layer (diameter) is noteworthy.
Therefore, this result is of great value, as it affects
positively by reducing the time and cost of forest
inventories, allowing accurate indirect estimates of the
volume of trees in the forest, using only the diameter as a
predictor variable.
However, it is emphasized that the results obtained in
this study are specific to the species E. urophylla, at the
same age. Thus, further studies must be carried using
other species at different ages, as consequence, different
neural network settings and architectures should be
trained. As a suggestion, the variables "species" and
"age" could be used as categorical variables in the input
layer, which may result in a single ANN that will be able
to accurately predict the individual volume range of
different species and ages of the genus Eucalyptus.

Conclusions
Artificial neural networks of the type multilayer perceptron
using the diameter and the total tree height as predictor
variables are accurate in the estimate of individual wood
volume of E. urophylla trees and are not statistically
different from the true wood volume derived from rigorous
tree scaling process. Settings of multilayer perceptron
networks with a single neuron in the input layer, the
diameter, are as precise and accurate as networks using
two neurons in the same layer, the diameter and height.

Conflict of Interests
The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.
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